Frederick Douglass, the Prophet Isaiah, and Healthy Patriotism

AS WE APPROACH Independence Day, I’m anxious the holiday will be overshadowed by the pitched battles waged around what we teach about our nation’s history, continued assaults on our democracy, and the struggle over how we understand and express patriotism. In the face of these trends and the alarming prominence of white Christian nationalism, it is imperative that we resist destructive forms of patriotism that bleed into nationalism. Instead, we should embrace a redemptive patriotism that celebrates the noble promises the country was built upon, even while we acknowledge and repent for the ways the country has fallen so short of living up to those ideals and extending them to everyone. Nationalism is often rooted in a revisionist and censored telling of history and fueled by a hatred and fear of the “other.” In contrast, a healthy patriotism must always be tied to the project of building a more just and inclusive America. By rededicating ourselves to this cause, the Fourth of July can serve as a day that fosters greater unity and advances shared ideals, rather than one that reinforces our divisions.

Frederick Douglass and the biblical prophet Isaiah lend us seemingly timeless tools to resolve this conundrum. In 1852, nearly a decade before the Civil War, Douglass, formerly enslaved until his escape, was asked to address the citizens of his hometown of Rochester, N.Y., on the nation’s 76th anniversary. This famous speech—“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”—should be required reading for every American. Douglass began by praising the nation’s founding ideals, particularly liberty and justice. He went on to excoriate the country’s past and present for the evils of slavery, which discredited these ideals and betrayed the virtues that the founders and founding documents might otherwise possess. As Douglass put it, “The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretense, and your Christianity as a lie.” Douglass saved much of his prophetic fire for U.S. Christianity, due to its role in maintaining and perpetuating slavery, proclaiming, “The American church is guilty, when viewed in connection with what it is doing to uphold slavery; but it is superlatively guilty when viewed in connection with its ability to abolish slavery.”

Douglass’ words continue to haunt our nation as the legacy of slavery continues to reverberate, with systemic racism still embedded in many facets of our society, including, most painfully, in our justice system. Douglass’ challenge to the church to abolish slavery is deeply relevant to the power and responsibility that church leaders must now exercise to debunk the Big Lie that the last election was stolen and to protect everyone’s sacred right to vote. The prophet Isaiah reminds us that the credibility of our faith is measured not by religious ritual but by how we seek justice and defend the most vulnerable. Isaiah proclaims, “Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed”(1:17).

The U.S. Constitution stated the mission of the framers as forming “a more perfect union,” which continues to be inextricably linked to building a more perfect democracy and a more just nation. This and every Fourth of July, let’s celebrate by rededicating ourselves to doing just that.